Nicaragua: Granada > San Juan del Sur > Penas Blancos

Dec 2025 |

Rides 3 & 4 of my quick Nicaragua tour leading to the Costa Rica border.

Granada to San Juan del Sur

After 1 night in Granada, I headed to San Juan del Sur (SJS), the major tourist and expat destination of Nicaragua. Not a particularly scintillating ride, but nice nonetheless, with rolling hills and ranch land. This route was a decent main highway, zero potholes or traffic issues, just decent, like all roads I rode (tongue twister) in Nicaragua.

At Rivas, where you turn off to San Juan, you get some epic views of the massive lake and the twin volcanoes on Omotepe Island. Rivas was a major transit point for pre-Panama Canal travellers coming from the Caribbean coast, across the lake, then on to San Jua,n where ships sailed north to ports like San Francisco. Rivas was also the site of The Battle of Rivas, part of an era of USA disruption in Central America, led by William Walker, a largely forgotten but currently relevant scoundrel (side note: I tried to visit his gravesite in Trujillo, Honduras, where he was later executed by firing squad; didn't make it due to my bike breaking down).

I arrived at SJS around noon, pulled into a coffee shop and booked 2 nights at Tapihouse, a decent little hotel with a very attractive, genki manager. SJS is a nice little beachside surf party town, a bit run-down, decent F&B, a street of beachside bars. There is even a Tragically Hip-themed bar - The Hip - that caters to the Canadians and all others, a decent place.

There's a string of smaller beaches up the coast, and a big road upgrade, going to springboard development of what is currently a sleepy, quiet area of paradise beaches and remote surf breaks.

Ride: km / 2.5 hours

Stay: Tapihouse / $35 / ***

San Juan del Sur to Pena Blancos

This was a refreshingly short 1-hour ride to the border. Nothing special along the way, though you do get some good views of the lake and island. The good vibes of the day were soon shattered when I got to the border, which turned out to be the worst I experienced in Central America.

Ride: 44 km km / 1 hour